FOOTBALL is a simple game; 22 men chase a ball around for 90 minutes and in the end the only action that counts is inside both boxes. 

That's certainly the way Peter Grant was seeing things yesterday after Alloa's unbeaten run came to an end in frustrating style. 

The Wasps' seven-game run, their finest since the 1970s, was ended by Ayr United, who were the latest to benefit from a generous piece of defending in the Alloa box.

READ MORERoss Doohan shines bright to deny Wasps in narrow defeat 

And while Alan Forrest's clincher near the death was out of a different playbook entirely, it made no difference to Grant who cursed his team's failure to reap the rewards from an encouraging display. 

"We had a Hell of a lot of the ball, created chances, and missed them," Grant told Advertiser Sport. "Football is what you do in both boxes and we weren't clinical enough.

"Ayr had three shots on goal maybe and score two goals.

"We are disappointed with the result but yet again it took us a little bit of time, maybe the first 15 minutes, to get going. 

"After that, we improved and created the chances and their keeper made some terrific saves - although, you could say bad misses and we do need to be a little bit more ruthless.

"It proved costly in the end and fair play to Ayr. But, again it seems like wherever someone hits the ball against us it's going onto the top bin. They are capable of that and have good players and are a good side." 

Despite the scoreline, the Wasps could rightly point to a fine performance by Ross Doohan in the Ayr United goal as a large part of the reason they failed to score for only the third time in ten games. 

Alloa and Hillfoots Advertiser: Youngster Kieran Wright held his hands up after his error for Ayr's opener Youngster Kieran Wright held his hands up after his error for Ayr's opener

The Celtic youngster made a string of fine saves from Kevin O'Hara, Liam Dick, and Robert Thomson in a memorable display between the sticks. 

Grant added: "It would be remiss of me to say our players did anything wrong and the disappointment in the dressing is probably down to the distance they have come in recent months. 

"We lost the game after dominating. If you are not ruthless in the box, you'll never win games of football." 

READ MORE: Kevin Cawley proud of Alloa's powers of recovery in Morton thirller

Meanwhile, Grant was keen to defend Rangers loanee Kieran Wright in the wake of his error for Ayr's opener. The teenager was guilty of failing to command his box in the face of pressure from Aaron Drinan. 

"We make an error," Grant said. "Young Kieran knows that and he has held his hand up. That's probably down to the youthfulness in him.

"We know you are going to have mistakes with a goalkeeper and it's highlighted. He also made a world class save at the end."